Create release version using tar

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I have a project with the usual stuff (source code, yadda, yadda) and I want to have a command to Scons (but it could be whatever build system to be honest) that will do the following:
Build the system -- this is easy.
Create a tar ball of the system -- this is easy.
When the content of the tar ball are extracted, they extract in a fubar-VERSION/ directory -- this is the tricky part.
I can do the latter manually by creating a symlink, then taring from one directory above the project one but that feel inelegant. Any idea?
To clarify, I want to be able to do this:
; pwd
~/project
; scons
(HowTos)

In Ubuntu, I have downloaded some source code to ~/Project/src. Then, I create a directory at ~/Project/build. From within ~/Project/build, I run cmake ../src. This creates the makefile in ~/Project/src, but I want it to create the makefile in ~/Project/build. How can I do this?